HOW can there be any justification of this amnesty, because the majority of Pakistanis pay their direct and indirect taxes? How can they appreciate amnesty for those who have continuously violated the laws of the country and desisted from paying any taxes or at best paid paltry sums, while they have accumulated wealth beyond imagination.

How can anyone justify the payment of 8/10th of one per cent tax on five million rupees, or one per cent if paid next month, or 1.4 per cent the following month on this sum?

Is this democracy when our elected representatives want to make laws that favour the already favoured?

This Amnesty Bill is othing but a reward for those who have accumulated wealth so they can ‘whiten’ such money. Any MNA who votes in favour of this bill will be failing in his duty to the people he represents, besides being answerable to his Creator in the final analysis.

It has also been reported that the members of the Senate and the National Assembly have voiced their anger at news reports showing how little, if any, tax they have paid and violated laws by not submitting annual tax returns. What these ‘learned’ individuals, who call themselves representatives of the people, should have done is to publish proof of payment of taxes and copies of tax returns. Alternatively, they could have asked the FBR to make public their tax returns so the people would see for themselves. They must know that even the president of the United States makes public his annual tax return.

If democracy means government of the people, by the people and for the people, then let all benefits accrue to the people -- all people, not just the elite or those who happen to govern us.

M. HASAN     Karachi